Apple's latest proposal to comply with the DMA is just another attempt to cheat users and developers. We explain its convoluted terms and why they're no good.
Governments are going about this the wrong way. The problem isn’t with app stores. The problem is that you can’t install a different OS on your phone (or current Mac, or iPad).
The problem is that you don’t own the right to use your own device the way you see fit, and are instead locked into systems you can’t escape from.
You should be able to freely install the software you like, be that an OS, a third party app or even your own program, and you should be able to use all the features of your devices, freely, without being locked out due to the app or accessory not being first party.
Opening the phone to other app stores is just the first step. The second is letting the user choose an app store when they first start their phone similarly to how they already enforce browser choice.
It’s not so trivial, different BIOS’es have different hotkeys to enter setup, different functionality, and device drivers are usually provided certainly only for the main OS.
Perhaps legal obligation to provide proper datasheets (easy to do, ye-es? they already certainly have those, ye-es, otherwise how did they make that Windblows\MockOS driver?) for device manufacturers and sellers (cause I the customer shouldn’t care to look for them, everything should be in the box in paper form ; just like all other schematics, if in 1970s you’d tell someone that a complex expensive machine is sold to customers without schematics, people wouldn’t believe you, they’d say you’re nuts, they’d ask where the regulators are sleeping, and they’d wonder how it’s possible to operate a device without schematics), and obligation to not employ various technologies to prevent replacement of onboard devices and loading of unsigned drivers, should exist.
The best part about all this is that such a law could be written so that it equally well applies to a 1970s machine, a today’s machine and whatever they’ll come up with in year 2066.
I have an idea - make this issue solved via direct popular vote. Ranked choice, variants range from “Apple owns your butts” to “Apple should be punished with its monthly margin for failing to deliver hourly orgasms with its devices” to “Apple open sources and PD’s everything or Apple leaves”.
They’ll be interested themselves in making the OS as convenient for normal usage as possible. Including the walled garden part. OK, just a thought experiment.
Governments are going about this the wrong way. The problem isn’t with app stores. The problem is that you can’t install a different OS on your phone (or current Mac, or iPad).
Last time I thought you could install Asahi on current Macs unless Apple started blocking that and I didn’t know.
The problem is that you don’t own the right to use your own device the way you see fit, and are instead locked into systems you can’t escape from.
You should be able to freely install the software you like, be that an OS, a third party app or even your own program, and you should be able to use all the features of your devices, freely, without being locked out due to the app or accessory not being first party.
No one should have to have an IT degree just to have the software they want installed on their devices.
On machines where it’s trivial to do so (such as pcs), how many real life users (as opposed to forum haunting online geeks) will install another os?
How many real life users are going to install software from somewhere other than the built in app store on their phone?
-WhatsApp is now exclusive to the Meta iOS App Store.-
That many real life users.
Opening the phone to other app stores is just the first step. The second is letting the user choose an app store when they first start their phone similarly to how they already enforce browser choice.
It’s not so trivial, different BIOS’es have different hotkeys to enter setup, different functionality, and device drivers are usually provided certainly only for the main OS.
Perhaps legal obligation to provide proper datasheets (easy to do, ye-es? they already certainly have those, ye-es, otherwise how did they make that Windblows\MockOS driver?) for device manufacturers and sellers (cause I the customer shouldn’t care to look for them, everything should be in the box in paper form ; just like all other schematics, if in 1970s you’d tell someone that a complex expensive machine is sold to customers without schematics, people wouldn’t believe you, they’d say you’re nuts, they’d ask where the regulators are sleeping, and they’d wonder how it’s possible to operate a device without schematics), and obligation to not employ various technologies to prevent replacement of onboard devices and loading of unsigned drivers, should exist.
The best part about all this is that such a law could be written so that it equally well applies to a 1970s machine, a today’s machine and whatever they’ll come up with in year 2066.
It’s not that trivial
Around 5%
The problem is that the stock OS is a walled garden. No common user will flash their phone.
I have an idea - make this issue solved via direct popular vote. Ranked choice, variants range from “Apple owns your butts” to “Apple should be punished with its monthly margin for failing to deliver hourly orgasms with its devices” to “Apple open sources and PD’s everything or Apple leaves”.
They’ll be interested themselves in making the OS as convenient for normal usage as possible. Including the walled garden part. OK, just a thought experiment.
TBH Mac’s bootloader is pretty open so you can install whatever. There’s a nice distro named Asahi which you can spin up in like 5 minutes.
The Mac bootloader (and for now, who knows about the future). But what about iPhones and iPads?
Why not both?